Large-size expansion for triangular Wilson loops in confining gauge theories

Abstract

The asymptotic behavior of Wilson loops in the large-size limit ($L\rightarrow\infty$) in confining gauge theories with area law is controlled by effective string theory (EST). The $L^{-2}$ term of the large-size expansion for the logarithm of Wilson loop appears within EST as a two-loop correction. Ultraviolet divergences of this two-loop correction for polygonal contours can be renormalized using an analytical regularization constructed in terms of Schwarz-Christoffel mapping. In the case of triangular Wilson loops this method leads to a simple final expression for the $L^{-2}$ term.